A working conference on Leadership, Contact and Conflict to explore group and organisational dynamics and develop your own roles in it.

We are longing for contact in life and organisational life.
How can we have contact without avoiding differences and conflicts?

Having conflict without contact is not so difficult, but worse.

It takes leadership to do both.

Leadership: What does leadership mean to you? Is it a job title/status, a role that you take (on) in a group, a form of behavior...? What does leadership mean to others around you? How do you personally shape leadership?

Contact: The word contact refers to touching: in what way? What is played out in contacts between persons, groups or organisations? How do you, in having contact, make the distinction between the person and his/her role?

Conflict: What do you experience when having conflicts? In conflict situations with yourself and with other persons, groups and organisations? Can conflicts be innovative and are they worthwhile examining in depth, or do they cause one of the three instinctive reactions: fight, flight or freeze in the first place?

Working beneath the surface: What is not yet visible in the interaction and still contributes to how leadership, contacts and conflicts develop? What is actually going on beneath the surface? Which roles do you (un)consciously get and how do you take them up?

The working conference Leadership Contact & Conflict is a temporary learning institution, in which experiences of yourself and others in groups and organisations form the basis. It relies upon the active participation of the members and the staff of the conference.

Unlike in traditional academic conferences, there will be no lectures: experiential learning means that you learn from the immediate, here and now experiences that you have through participation and working on the primary task of this temporary learning organisation.

It provides a safe space to gain experiences in an intense way and thereby to work on your personal and professional development.

During the conference, you will gradually become more aware of the way in which leadership, contact & conflict influence the way you shape your roles spontaneously within the learning organisation.

You will develop insight in the conscious and unconscious processes that influence what one feels, thinks and does within the group.

The focus of this conference is to explore, discuss, reflect on and develop the different roles that you take up.

From there, the connection is made to your experiences in the roles as you take them up in your own organisation; so that you can translate your learning experience to your specific working practice.

This conference uses the methodology originally developed by the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations in London, by Wilfred Bion, Ken Rice and Eric Miller and still further developed by others. This group relations working model uses a sophisticated design that works with the principles of Task, Time and Territory.

The primary task of any institution is its reason of being, hence its most fundamental task.

The primary task of this conference is to explore how persons, roles and systems interact, both consciously and unconsciously, and how people reshape their roles in practicing Leadership, Contact & Conflict within this conference and thereafter.

Each session in this conference also has its own Primary Task with boundaries of Time and Territory. These are crucial to system-oriented work and for the exploration of unconscious dynamics.

The conference design consists of various types of sessions: plenary sessions, large systems, small systems, institutional events, reflection and role analysis groups.

Leadership, Contact & Conflict consists of two intertwined sub-conferences:
• a basic conference: for members participating for the first time in such a conference
• a deepening conference: for participants who have already participated in a ‘group relations’ conference.

The conference is residential.
It starts on Wednesday January 10 at 13:00 sharp: members must have settled and registered beforehand.
It ends on Saturday January 13 at 17:00.
On Thursday, Friday and Saturday, the sessions begin at 08:30.
On Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, they finish at 19:30 for the basic conference and at 22:00 for the deepening conference.

Questions around leadership, contact & conflict, and the manner in which people take up or do not take up certain roles in the organisations and institutions in which they live and work, are universal themes.
Diversity of participants in terms of background, age, work experience, nationality and gender is a source for rich learning experience.

Leadership, Contact & Conflict is particularly suitable for anyone
• with questions around leadership, contacts and conflicts and who wonders how people take up or do not take up certain roles in organisations
• who wants to become more effective in working in group, team or organisational dynamics
• looking for a better balance between a rational and emotional way of functioning
• who wants to get prepared for new managerial or professional positions
• looking for innovative ways to understand the dynamics of willingness and resistance to change, and to find ways to work with them

Conference Administrators, ConsultantsAstrid Echteld MPC, senior psychodynamic counsellor, coach, and communication skills trainer at Joeroké. Focused on issues arising from leadership, diversity, conflict, team working and child abuse. Member of OPUS, UK (an Organisation for Promoting Understanding of Society). Freelance trainer for the Educational Centre of National Agency of Correctional Institutions (Dienst Justitiële Inrichtingen), Ministry of Safety and Justice. (The Netherlands)

Thierry HérionMaster in Political Sciences from Liège University; former nursing home director; interim management; consultant in the non-profit sector; psychotherapist (energetic psychology). Board member of MaTRIS. (Belgium)

Other Consultants of the conferenceMilda Autukaitė MSc Organisational Psychology, HR Director “Swedbank”, Lithuania ; Organisational Development consultant ; Post-graduate studies of “Working with Adult Group in Organisations“ course (Lithuanian Group Analytic Society), Member of Lithuanian Group Relations Society.(Lithuania)

Hugues FauvilleGraduate of IFG Paris Business School, Human Resources post-graduate at Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University, Certified in Institutional Transformation. Head of Human Resources at ArcelorMittal Europe Long Products, Chairman of ArcelorMittal Gandrange (Luxemburg) and Board Member of SONASID (Morocco). Expert in HR Management and in Industrial/Labour relations. Passionate about aeronautics as a private pilot. (France)

Saliem Khliefi BA, social worker, psychotherapist, group therapist, organisational consultant. Professional team supervisor of non-profit organisation working with LGBT youth. Classification officer at the prison services. OFEK member (Israeli organisation of studying individual, group, organisation and social dynamics). Israeli Arab. (Israel)

Roberta MineoAdvisor in leadership and organizational consultant. PhD in Clinical Psychology, Post-Doc in Human Rights. Professor in Group Processes, Family Relations and Gender Studies at the University of Reggio Emilia & Modena (Italy), where she is also Associate director for international relations. (Italy)

Daybel Pañellas AlvarezPh.D. Social Psychologist. Full professor at the University of Havana. Works on Groups and social identities. Scientific Advisor at the University and other social sciences centers. Advisory Board of the magazines Cuban Alternatives on Psychology (Cuban Psychology Society), Study (Youth Study Research Center), Temas (Ministry of Culture). (Cuba)

Ana María Ruiz Sancho Psychiatrist and psychotherapist in private practice in Madrid. Founder and director of VocAcción, agency specialized on advising, training and supervising professionals and Institutional consultancy. Associated Partner of TeamMotivation Consulting. Member of APAG (Analytical Group Psychotherapy Association), IAGP (International Association for Group Psychotherapy and Group Processes), and the UK-PBSP (Pesso-Boyden Psychomotor) Association. (Spain)

Martijn van der Spek General Social Sciences, BSc. Health Psychology; assistant professor, senior organisational consultant, program leader executive program Coaching and Consulting in Context at Utrecht University School of Governance, NL; professional partnership with Tavistock Institute of Human Relations, UK; associate consultant Tavistock Consulting; UK; member International Society for the Psychoanalytic Study of Organizations (ISPSO). (The Netherlands)

Conference DirectorsBruno ChevoletEntrepreneur and management consultant. MSc Eng. and certified transformation consultant. Founding partner of TeamMotivation Consulting; agent of Rebaro Fernwärmetechnik; associated partner of Centre for Balanced Leadership; consultant of VocAcción. Lifelong Learning coordinator and committee member of INSEAD Alumni Association Belgium. Member of the Board of MaTRIS, Member of IFSI (International Forum for Social Innovation) and of IAGP. (Belgium)

Martha MensMSc. Clinical Psychologist; Master Psychodynamic Counselling. Senior Consultant, Expertise Center for Organization and Personnel, Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations. Supervisor and consultant executive program Coaching and Consulting in Context at Utrecht University School of Governance. (The Netherlands)

This working conference is residential. Meals and accommodation are included in the price.
The conference will take place in Hotel de Buunderkamp, Wolfheze, near Arnhem, The Netherlands.
https://www.bilderberg.nl/en/wolfheze/hotel-de-buunderkamp/

The conference starts on Wednesday January 10, 2018, at 13:00 sharp. It ends on Saturday January 13 at 17:00.
Registration on site upon arrival will be on Wednesday January 10 16 as from 11:30.

Early birds discounts:
Until October 31, 2017, the registration fees including full board accommodation are:
• Base fee: € 2100, -
• Groups of more than two participants: €1800, -

After October 31, 2017, the registration fees including full board accommodation are:
• Base fee: € 2400, -
• Groups of more than two participants: €2100, -

A limited number of bursaries may be granted.

Payments can be done digitally. All relevant information can be found on the application form.

The number of participants is limited. Registration will take place in order of receipt.